Paper hanger&#39;s tear plate



June 29, 1943. A. G. JOHNSON PAPERHANGER S TEAR PLATE Filed Nov. 22, 1941 Patented June 29, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to paper-hangers implements and has for its object to provide a combination tear plate and rule.

An important object of my invention is to provide a tear plate and rule of the above character comprising a fiat metal strip having two long, straight non-parallel tearing edges and two short end edges connecting the tearing edges, scale markings being provided at least along one of the long and short edges to allow the use of the plate as a rule. An important feature of the invention resides in the shape of the plate so as to permit it to engage a corner of the wall being papered.

Another object of my invention is to provide a tear plate and rule of the above character in which one of the tearing edges is provided with minute serrations to facilitate the tearing of certain kinds of wall paper that cannot readily be torn against a true straight edge.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention considered in connection with the annexed drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a tear plate and rule; and

Figure 2. is a vertical, transverse cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, my combination tear plate and rule I is preferably composed of a sheet of thin spring metal-such for example as stainless steel-of quadrilateral shape, so as to provide two long straight sides 2 and 3 and two short straight ends 4 and 5.

The ends 4 and 5 of the tear plate extend perpendicular to the side 3 and therefore are parallel to each other, and the end edge 5 is substantially shorter than the end edge 4, as shown in the drawing. The side edge 2 is provided with minute serrations or teeth 8 along its length to aid in tearing tough-fibered wall papers, while the side edge 3 is formed with a knife edge 9 for severing wall papers of ordinary grade.

The long side 2 is preferably one foot in length and stamped or otherwise marked so as to provide a 12-inch scale 6, reading from right to left as shown in Fig. 1. The end 4 is likewise marked off into inches so as to provide a 3-inch scale 1, reading from left to right. If desired, the opposite side of the plate i may be similarly provided with scale markings.

The shape of my tear plate is such that it may be turned so that either of the tearing edges 2 or 3 will abut the end wall of a room in trimming off the lower end of the final strip of wall paper, regardless of whether such abutting wall lies to the right or to the left of the workman and regardless of Whether the serrated edge 2 or the knife edge 3 is to be used as the tearing edge. This follows from the fact that the end edges 4 and 5 form acute or obtuse angles with the side edge 2 thus allowing, by suitably turning or reversing the plate, the corner of the plate to engage the corner of the wall even if such wall corner be not exactly square, as is frequently the case in actual practice.

When approaching the corner of a room it becomes necessary for the paper hanger to determine the width of the final strip of paper required to complete the papering of the wall. The paper-hanger, after tearing off the bottom of the next-to-the-last strip of paper, may ascertain this width by simply shifting the tear plate to the right or to the left, as conditions require, and not ing the scale 6. Or in close quarters the plate may be turned lengthwise and the scale 1 consulted for a reading.

Whether the serrated edge 2 or the knife edge 3 is used as th tearing edge will depend upon the character of the wall paper being hung. Because of its tapered shape, the plate may be readily carried in a pocket loop of the aprons worn by paper-hangers with one end projecting therefrom so as to be handily available when needed.

After a strip from a roll of wall paper has been applied to a wall, the paper-hanger lays one or the other tearing edges 2 or 3 against the bottom of the strip and tears it off so that it terminates even with the base board of the wall.

Manifestly my tear plate and rule may take other forms than the one described above without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined in the following claim.

I claim:

A tear plate for wall paper and the like comprising a relatively thin flat plate of sheet material, said plate being of quadrilateral shape presenting two straight non-parallel side edges and two straight parallel end edges, all edges being of different lengths, whereby said plate includes a right-angled corner, an obtuse-angled corner and an acute-angled corner for engaging wall corners, and minut serrations along one of the side edges for facilitating the tearing of wall paper thereagainst, the tapered shape of the tear plate permitting it to be readily carried in the pocket loop of a paper-hangers apon.

ALFRED G. JOHNSON. 

